462 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [ DECEMBER 
Prunus Americana and P. angustifolia have good ranges. These 
facts first led me to suppose a hybrid origin for Pyrus Soulardi 
and Prunus hortulana, a conviction which is reinforced by other 
evidence, as I expect to publish shortly in detail. 
My contention, therefore, is that since we agree that the 
species is not, as a matter of fact, an entity, we must abandon 
the conceptions of it which define it upon intrinsic characters; 
and we must look upon it as a more or less arbitrary division 
which it is expedient to use in taxonomy and nomenclature. 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 
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